Frosted
by Hopscotchsaveslives
Summary: Life before, under, and after the Ice that cut Jackson Overland Frost's life short.
1. Chapter 1

Jackson Overland did not like school. School was always boring and the teachers never laughed at his pranks, jokes or games. In fact they were always sending home notes to his parents, most of which were mysteriously lost on the way home. However Jack did enjoy reading. History books were alright, but when he could get his hands on fiction books, those were the best. It was a rainy spring morning and Jack was, once again, not paying any attention to what Mrs. Philips was saying. The one room building that was Burgess's schoolhouse was filled with the few children that the village had. Jack was near the oldest. Only two boys were older than him, and Jack didn't like them. Maybe it had something to do with the way they treated the younger children of the village. Or perhaps it was the fact that they did their best to make Jack's life hell. Matt and Andrew were always together, so it made sense that they were both sitting in the back corner whispering, their next plot to cause Jack grief.

Jack being sixteen was in his last year of full school or as his father put it old enough to work in the forge. However Jack most wanted to never touch that hot and smoke filled building. Jack was pulled out of his reverie as the class was dismissed for the day. Pippa, Jack's younger sister bounced across the room. Taking his hand she pulled him from his chair. Being pulled away from the table he just vacated, jack quickly reached for his bag and tunic. Pippa once assured that her brother was following drop his hand so he could clip the brass hooks together that secured the brown tunic into place.

"Can we go play?" Pippa asked the tall brown haired boy.

Jack flashed his famous sly smile. "Do you have to ask?"

With that the two took of the trail through Burgess, weaving in between the town's folk as they passed by. Pippa chased her brother round trees and houses. Jack was fast; his small frame that gave him a twigs appearance was perfect in combination with his long legs for running. However Jack always seemed to stay just out of Pippa's reach. At least that was until jack ran head long into a tree. Flat on his back Pippa came into focus above him.

"You're it." She poked him in the chest then scampered the other direction. Jack Overland smiled as he watched his sister begin the game again with just as much energy as before.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack had finally shepherded his sister back to the cabin they called home. The cabin consisted of four rooms. The main room where they cooked, ate, and sat by a warm fire to read or talk. The other rooms were Jack, Pippa, and their parent's bedrooms. Jack's mother looked up from her cooking as they walked into the main room. Jack bent down to help Pippa unlace her boots.

"Are you two hungry?" their mother called as she stirred what looked to be beef stew.

Pippa now freed of her shoes ran to their mother hugging her around the middle, shrieked in delight. "Oh yes. I and Jack played so much I think I will die from hunger."

Their mother laughed and turned to her son. "I hope Pippa didn't wear you out to much."

"Na. She was Fine." Jack rubbed his head where it had hit the trunk of the tree he had run into.

"What's that?" His mother frowned seeing a lump on his forehead.

"Nothing. Just hit a tree earlier. Its fine mum don't worry." Jack said brushing his bangs over the small lump, just as his father walked in covered on smoke, dust and black grease.

"Let me see." Jacks mother demanded.

"Now now don't baby the boy Emma." His father called from behind him. "Jackson go out to the pump and get some water so I can wash this grime off me."

Grateful for the reprieve Jack dashed out of the house grabbing a pale next to the front door, and made his way to the town center.

As Jack approached the pump that was the village's main water supply Jack saw Matt and Andrew sitting on a rock wall in the town square. Jack not wanting to delay walked quickly to the spout and began to fill the pale. Unfortunately they had no such incentive. Rising from their place on the wall they walked over to the spot Jack stood.

Jack hearing their approach slowed the pace at which he was pumping the bar, not wanting to appear to be nervous around the other boys. Andrew tapped Jack on his shoulder. "Yes?" Jack said smoothly in reply.

"We were just wondering what brought you to this part of town Overland." He said threateningly as he cracked his knuckles.

"Well you can't be blind as well as stupid can you? I mean I didn't know the universe was that unfair." Jack bent forward to pick up the water and get on his way before the two worked out what it was he had just said. Unfortunately they knew from his tone that whatever he meant, it was insulting.

"Where on earth have you been?" His mother asked as Jack finally came in the door, covered in water.

Jack's father stood with his arms crossed still covered in filth from the day's work. "Sorry." Jack handed his father the water not meeting his eye. Without commit he took the pale and when out back to wash up.

"Why are you soaked in water?" His mother looked at him holding out a clean towel out for him to use. Pippa came out of her room to see what the commotion was. Not wanting to make his sister upset Jack just smiled, and sat down at the table for dinner still in his watery garments.

"Water fight." It wasn't a complete lie. There had been a fight and it had included water.


	3. Chapter 3

Jack sat reading in his room by candle light. The cabin was a small four room building, with just on large room for the living kitchen and dining space and three small bedrooms. His father had built his and Pippa's just before each of them had been born. Jack despite its smallness, liked his room. In the summer it stayed reasonably cool as well as keeping warm during the winter. Thunder shook the small room blowing out the candle lighting the page he was reading. Jack sighed putting the book down; he was not allowed to use more than one match each night to light the candle. Rolling over he fell into a peaceful dose.

As a particularly loud thunder shook the house three small taps sounded on Jack's door. Jack rolled over and grunted in answer. Pippa walked into the room slowly. "Jack?" she shook his shoulder.

"Wha'?" Jack sleepily rubbed his eyes as brown ones came into focus.

"Can I sleep with you?" staring into her freighted eyes Jack watched as she jumped when lightning lit up the room.

Pulling aside his blankets he made space. "Corse you can." Pippa smiling jumped up snuggling into his warm body. Jack watched as she curled up.

"Will you sing something?"

"Like what?"

"The one daddy used to sing."

"Aaa?"

"Please."

Jack sighed "Ok ammm…"

" Dodo, l'enfant do,L'enfant dormira bien vite Dodo, l'enfant doL'enfant dormira bientôt. Une poule blanche Est là dans la grange. Qui va faire un petit coco Pour l'enfant qui va fair' dodo. Dodo, l'enfant do, L'enfant dormira bien vite Dodo, l'enfant do L'enfant dormira bientôt. Tout le monde est sage Dans le voisinage Il est l'heure d'aller dormer Le sommeil va bientôt venir."

Finishing Jack leaned forward and kissed the top of her head lightly, his lips brushing her hair. With his arm holding Pippa against his body he fell into a heavy sleep.

The door was thrown open, waking the sleeping children. Pippa jumped from bed and looked at the floor. Pippa being eight was too old to be sleeping with Jack or their parents anymore, or so her father said. Jack slowly got out of the bed and looked up at the tall man framed in the doorway. "The storm scared her, she couldn't sleep."

"Breakfast," was all he gave in reply. Then he quickly swept from the room.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have come in here."

Jack looked at his little sister in shock. "No." he pulled her down next to him on the bed so that they were facing each other. "He should be the sorry one. There is nothing wrong with being scared of a storm. You hear me little lady?"

"Yes."Pippa looked at her brother's smile he always knew what to say.

**AN: Hey I hope you guys are enjoying the story. Please review. Also if you have requests I will take them. The lullaby is French here is the English translation:**

**Sleepy time, the young one sleeps,  
The child will sleep very soon  
Sleepy time, the young one sleeps,  
The child will sleep oh, so soon. **

**A white hen  
Is in the barn.  
It'll make a small egg  
For the child who goes to sleep. **

**Sleepy time, the young one sleeps,  
The child will sleep very soon  
Sleepy time, the young one sleeps,  
The child will sleep oh, so soon. **

**Everyone is calm  
All around  
It's the time for all to sleep  
Sleep will come soon.**

**I know in English it sound dumb but in French it is really pretty.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys thanks to the people who have reviewed. You made my day! I will try to post everyday as I am on winter break, when school starts up again we will see. :)**

Winter came quickly to Burgess. Jack couldn't wait for the first really snow fall of the year. There had been light flurries but that was all, nothing good for snowballs. Jack was currently lying in bed, trying to hold on to the last moments of a dream he had just had. It had been about dolphins, his mother had told him about them from when she had made the long trip over the ocean. Jack had been swimming with them, which was odd as he had never been in the ocean.

Slowly getting out of his bed he pulled on his clothes. His homespun white shirt was cool as I made contact with his bare skin. Next he pulled his brown vest over himself. Jack slowly walked out of his room and into his sister's.

"Pippa, rise and shine!" Jack stifled a yon. Pippa made a grunting noise and rolled over. Jack pulled her favorite brown dress out of her wardrobe and a pair of warm stockings. "Pippa come on." Jack feigned annoyance and pulled the coverlet off the small girl.

Pippa lunged at her brother and began dancing round the room. Jack shocked from his sister's trickery, was left chasing her about the cramped space trying to get her into the dress. Pippa then ran from her bed room and bonded through the main room and out the door.

"Pippa get back here!" Jack called from the door way. Pippa was running along the snow covered path in nothing but her under garments. The brown haired eight year old laughed as her brother began to chase her towards the village's middle. Jack's laughter bubbled up from behind her then suddenly stopped. Pippa spun to look at her brother, wondering why he had given up the chase so easily. The smile that was constantly tugging at his mouth was gone, replaced by a shameful look as he stared down at his feet.

"Pippa! Home now!" A deep and foreboding voice called. Slowly she pushed her hair back behind her ear, as she looked up at her father. Jack watched his sister walk home, a sense of dread building in his stomach. "Jack what on earth do you think you're doing letting you sister out in this weather with no clothes on. She could have been hurt or caught a cold!"

"Sorry it won't happen again." Jack had memorized his shoes.

"You're right it won't, Home now!" Jack turned slowly to flow his sister to the small cabin they called home.

* * *

Jack stood at the table washing potatoes for the night's supper.

"She just ran out I couldn't stop her."

"Your father will get over it, don't worry so much." Jack's mother said smiling at him as he worked.

"He can't stand anything I do. He thinks I can't do anything right! And he always yells at me. It's like he thinks I'm a waste of space!" Jack said throwing down the potato peels.

"Jack," his mother put down her knife she had been using to cut up the potatoes Jack had finished with. "You are wonderful and your father and I love you very much. He is just under so much pressure this time of year."

"Yeah whatever." Jack pushed his mother's hand from his shoulder, picking up the last potato.

"Jack?" Pippa peered out from behind the door way. "what's wrong?"

Plastering a smile on his face Jack turned, "Nothing's wrong." He rushed forward and scoped Pippa up and spun her around like a flying bird. Laughing he put her down as their mother told them to be careful.

"Can we go skating Jack?"

"Not tonight." Their mother frowned.

"Oh Mum." Pippa began to wine.

Jack knelt down looking at his sister, "We will soon, I promise." Jack winked at his sister laughing at her sparkling eyes filled with excitement.

**AN: please review! I have some cool stuff in the works so keep reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

Pulling his hand Pippa dragged her brother into the wood to play games. Accompanied by Pippa's friends they began a game of hide and seek. Pippa left alone in the woods slowly worked to find Jack and her friends. After tracking down her two best friends, one hidden in berry bushes, the other in a hollow tree, the search for Jack was on. Jack always won such games, for he had the best hiding places. He usually found them on one of his adventures that he did alone. Pippa had never been allowed on one of them no matter how much she had begged. Now of course it gave Jack an unfair advantage, because he had always been with her when exploring the woods, she was not old enough to wonder off alone according to her mother, so Jack knew all of her hiding places. However after combing his usual places Pippa found he was not near the brook, under the brush pile, or in the meadows. So Pippa and her friends split up to quicken the search, they were eager to start a new game.

After looking for half an hour Pippa was getting impatient with her brother. Jack was nowhere to be seen and Pippa was alone in the woods. Pippa was officially done. Throwing up her hands she shouted. "Jack! It's not funny. Where are you?" Spinning round she heard a whistling above her head. Leaves drifted down landing around her. Jack's laughter filled the woods, as he watched his sister glare up at him. Slowly a smile sped over Pippa's face as well. Jack stood on top of the branch, pretending to loss his balance he leaned forward.

"Aaa." Jack feigned as he swung forward wrapping his legs around the branch holding him back against gravity. Pippa screamed then laughed at she realized Jack was not going to really fall. May-bell and Anna ran up to Pippa to join in her laugher. May-bell and Anna were Pippa's best friends and Jack was their favorite game.

"Jack get down from there!" Pippa laughed as her brother swung back and forth on the tree.

"What was that Pip?" Jack cupped his hand to his ear.

"Jack!" Pippa was pleading, "You'll fall."

"Ok. Ok." Jack swung up in a graceful arc so he was no longer upside down. Jack now in an upright position found his head was spinning.

"Jack!" Pippa was now just impatient.

"Give me a minute." Jack grumbled his head was not cooperating. Pippa Jack would admit was starting to get on his nerves. _Can't_ _she stop bossing me round for one second… I mean she is not my mother._ Jack though.

Jack usually didn't mind hanging out with his sister and her friends they were easy to make laugh. However they weren't the same as having friends his own age, not that Jack ever had had friends his own age. Jack was sort of the village fool, something the others laughed. But no one had really ever tried to get to know Jack. Besides no one in the village ever really did much more for him, Jack didn't need friends he decided.

A loud cracking sound pulled Jack out of his reverie. The laughter below him stopped as the three girls look up at Jack, sitting on a braking branch. Without enough time to even yell Jack began to fall. A rushing blur of green and yellow passed Jack as he fell. His breath left him as he hit branch after branch on his way to the ground. Pain erupted around him has he felt his ribs struck over and over. A second crack sounded as his head stuck the hard dirt floor.

**AN: thank for reading so far everyone, Review Please! I hope you guys like it. I would love some constructive criticism. This chapter took forever to write, and it's still so short****.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I will not be able to post tomorrow so I thought I would put this up soon rather then latter. So here you go.**

Pippa's first reaction was to scream. The sickening crunch that Jack had made as he hit the ground still rang in her ears. She wasted no time in running to his side. "Jack?" when he made no answer she began to shack by the shoulder. Anna and May-bell stood a way from the two siblings, as they watched their friend trying to revive her brother.

"We should get help." May-bell said approaching Pippa. Knowing she was right Pippa jumped to her feet.

"Stay with Jack!" She ordered taking of down the trail that lead back to the town.

John was the town's black smith. The sound of his harmer filled his ears, a constant song that he danced to each day. He had fixed a horse shoe, worked on a wagon spoke wheel, and now he was hammering flat the beginnings of a shovel for Mr. Turner, a famer that lived on the edge of the town. Just as he put the metal into the slack tub, the shop door was opened. "I will be with you in just a moment." John said smoothly.

"Papa, Papa!" John looked up to see his daughter interrupted him panting. "Jack… Fell… not moving!" she said through gasps. John lost no time with questions. Dropping this work he grabbed her hand running out the door. _Jackson what have you gotten yourself into now? _He thought anger coursing through him, but it was quickly replaced by worry.

"Show me!" John mind raced as his daughter pulled him through the woods. She suddenly stopped and pointed, too frightened to go any nearer to her brother. May-bell and Anna stood next to a limp figure draped across the frost covered ground. Jack's brown hair was mated with blood from a cut over his left eye. Crossing the distance between them quickly John pulled his first born into his arms. Jack let out a whimper of pain as he was moved by his father. John all too aware of Jack's pain slowly stood up, making sure to avoid moving Jack more than was necessary. John began the trek back to the village praying that Jack had not broken his ribs.

Throwing open the door to the small cabin John placed Jack on the table. "What is going… Jack?" John's wife entered the room from the garden. Emily ran to the cubed and began pulling out towels and clean cloth to use as a compress. John was already cleaning the cut on his son's forehead. After carefully wrapping his head with strips of cloth John lifted Jack's white shirt to look at his ribs.

Pippa and her friends stood in the door watching. As her mother noticed her and her friends taking in the scene, she stepped in front of them pushing them out the door. "He'll be fine you go on and play."

As the door clicked behind them Pippa began to sob. It was in her mind, her own fault that Jack fell. They had only gone to the woods to play because she asked. Now he was hurt and she was entirely to blame. Kicking the ground she let out a howl of rage.

"It's ok he'll be fine your mum said so." Anna said bracingly "This is Jack, he probably will just laugh and say it was fun when he wakes up." Tugging on her friends arm she said, "Let's play more and think of something else."

Emily watched her husband treating each of her son's wounds. Biting her nails she raced about the kitchen to get supplies that John requested. She had never been good at helping with anything more than small cuts or scraps. She always let John handle things that were bigger. He was simply better at such things. Emily was the one who tucked the kids in or told them stories; John was the disciplinary one and the one that knew the most about first aid.

After checking each of his ribs John was satisfied that Jack had not broken any of them. "Emma I need to move him to his room would you go pull back his coverlet so we can put him in it?" Emily dashed to her son's room. She picked up one of his books he had left on the center of his bed. _Robinson Crusoe, _she had brought this over with her on the trip from England. As a child it had been her favorite story, Jack like her loved books. Now she regretted not bring more of them from her parents home when she left. Putting such thoughts aside she lifted the blanket back as her husband walked in cradling Jack in his arms.

_Oh Jack _she thought as she tucked the blankets back around him. He lay so still, it made her stomach ache. Looking at him so quite made her think of when he was a baby; he had been so quite then. Jack's rebellious streak had come at a much latter age. As a small child he had been thoughtful and charming. Then John had said that there was no finer child. Emily knew John still loved Jack, but he had become much hard on him as he had grown. Looking up from her son's face Emily saw John had already left the room. Rushing after her husband, she closed the door to Jack's room softly. "John! Where are you going?" She said in a forced whisper.

"Back to the forge I have so much work left." He said already half out the door.

"But Jack." She didn't want to be left alone with him so injured. She was unsure of her own abilities.

"Emma, He will be fine, you're better at caring for children anyway." He said not completely convincingly.

"Don't humor me, John." She was always sorry she was not a better housewife for him, but she hated him pretending just to make her feel better.

He sighed, "Yes but I have to work still. You can get me if he wakes up."

With that he swept from the room. Letting out a sigh she picked up a small chair and returned to Jack's room. She sat there until she finally fell asleep her head resting on the bed's edge.

**AN: wow I think this is my longest one. Thank for reviews everyone.**

**Savedbygrace94, I was just looking for lullabies and since Jack lived around the time of the French and Indian war I thought maybe he would know French. I heard it on YouTube and looked up the lyrics. **

**Emma/Emily, I kind of Imagined Jacks mother being really young when she got married hand had him, and I really wanted to explore her love for jack and john and kind of living as a bridge between the two. I also wanted Jack to get his reading from her, because I wanted him to have a parent that understood him, especially as I have made his dad a little mean. I hope I didn't make her sound to young; I was going for sweet and kind of innocent. I hope you love her as much as I do.**

**Thanks for the correction AmaraRae I didn't have internet when I typed this and so I couldn't check and forgot to when I published it.**

**Don't forget to review and all that jazz. **


	7. Chapter 7

Pain. Pain was all Jack felt. His head, back, even his hair seemed to hurt. He could hear whispering, his mother? Slowly pealing his eyes open his room came into focus. The door to the small bedroom was left open letting light from the fireplace bath it in a flickering glow. Jack lay there for a moment just watching the shadows being chased around the walls by bits of light. The pain however was getting to him. So biting his lip he pushed his coverlet off of his chest, revealing purple and black bruises along his side. Letting out a low gasp he pushed himself into a sitting position. Jack swung himself round and put his feet on the cold floor. That hurt. Taking a deep breath he stood, lost his balance and sat back down. Black dots clouded his vision as he stood a second time. Walking stiffly he entered the main room of the cabin. There his parents sat their backs to him as they faced the fire.

"Don't know what that boy was thinking he could have gotten himself killed." John said shaking his head.

"Yes but you know how he is. Doing one wild thing after another. It's who he is; I doubt he would stop his games for anyone. He just wants to have fun, John." His mother defended.

"Fun is not a luxury he can have anymore, he needs to grow up."

A wave of pain surged through his body and Jack slumped against the wall. Hearing him his mother turned in her chair. Only to jump to her feet and rush to his aid. Half walking, half being carried over to a chair, Jack looked pale. "Thanks." He smiled weakly at his mother.

"What happened?" His father jumped in at once.

"Let him breathe, John."

"Its fine mum, I was in a tree. The branch broke. I fell." Jack said simply.

"Why were you in the tree?" his father spluttered, "You are too old for these games, Jack!"

Blood rose to Jack's face giving him a magnificent flush. "It was a laugh that's all."

"Well I'm not laughing am I?"

"You never laugh anymore, so not much of a change is it." Sarcasm crept into Jack's voice as he grew angry. Here was just one more time his father didn't care he was hurt, just that he had embarrassed him. "You never care what I want; just that it doesn't make you look bad in front of the village." Jack stood up in his momentary anger. Black spots returned as well as a twist in his gut. Leaning forward he retched. Pushing him back in his chair his mother glared at the both of them. Then she began to clean the mess in front of them. John stood up and walked over to the mantel.

"You need to grow up. As soon as you heal you will come to work with me at the shop. No more childish games."

Jack looked up at his father in shock, the forge was hot and dangerous not a place Jack ever went if he could help it. The last time Jack was in it he had burned his hand badly. "And if I don't?" Jack said feigning bravery.

His father didn't move but that was answer in its self, Jack would.

* * *

As weeks past the bruises on his side turned yellow and slowly back to the normal coloring of his skin. Though Jack was now forced to work during the day with his father, fixing horse shoes, sharpening farm tools, and the like, Jack still somehow had time to cause as much, if not more trouble in town as he had before the accident.

Telling stories to the young children, leading snow ball fights, and pranking adults of the village where just a few good pass times Jack miraculously accomplished in the off time. Jack was still Jack, no matter how hard his father worked him during the day. Jack would just run of bouncing away to his next stunt, with a new determination to show his dad that fun could still be a part of a worker's life.

The first heavy snow of the year had come and Jack was in the thick of the action. Running around with his face to the sky tongue out for the flaks to fall on to, he chased Pippa around the cabin. The two siblings fell into each other and began rolling in the white snow. Watching from the window John just shook his head.

* * *

"Jack?" Pippa cried out from the next room.

Peering into his sister's room Jack saw a tangled mess of brown cloth and limbs. Jack pulled his sister out from the brown handspun dress their mother had made and helped her into her nightgown. After all what were big brothers for? Pippa climbed into her bed. The bed was a simple frame that their father had made when she had become old enough to sleep in a separate room from her parents. Jack carefully pulled the blanket up to her chin so only her face showed out at the end of the bed. "Jack will you look under my bed?"

"For what?" Jack was puzzled. Pippa had never asked him to do that before.

"Anna's sister said that the Boogieman lived under little kids beds and would steal them at night." Jack frowned he had never heard Pippa sound like this, nervous, like she thought Jack would laugh at her.

"Hailey is dumb there is no Boogieman under your bed." Jack said brushing back her bangs slowly.

"Will you look just in case?" Pippa's eyes were wide with fear. She had never, not believed Jack before. Pippa had always taken his word as law. Jack was troubled that she would take Hailey's word over his. It made him sad, but that was dumb. _I should not care that she believes someone else._

"The Boogieman would never bother you. You know why?" Pippa shook her head. "Because he wouldn't want to get on my bad side. You know I am the most powerful prankster in the entire world. I would make him regret the rest of his life ever even thought about living under your bed." Just to prove his point Jack bent down and inspected the underside of the bed. "Just as I said," He smiled kindly. Pippa shock the blanket off of her hand as she reached for Jack's. Taking her hand Jack returned its pressure. His stomach ached that she was scared of something that she should not have ever heard about. He decided to have words with Hailey next time he saw her.

Letting go he said, "I just be in the other room." The floor cricked as he shifted his weight to get of the bed.

As he got up and closed the door he heard a soft whisper "You're the best brother ever." Jack closed the door and leaned against the wall just outside her door.

That was where his mother found him.

"Jack? What's wrong? Are your ribs still hurting you?" She didn't expect his response.

"No I just hate the boogieman." With that he stepped into his room and closed the door. Leaving his mother to stare at where he had disappeared.

**AN: I'm not sure if I like this chapter or not. I wanted to have something with Pitch but for him to not really be there, if you understand what I mean.**

**I fixed the last chapter. I changed the book to Robinson Crusoe, published 1719 I know that is still a bit off the time line but it is closer and I wanted a adventurous book, any king Arthur books just depress me, if you have watch Merlin you will understand why. If you haven't watched BBC's Merlin you should its great!**

**Don't forget to review and all that. A huge thank you to everyone who has I love them if you find mistakes please correct me, I love that you find the story worth your time to correct!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry it's late, first day back at school! But I did it.**

Jack was on one of his adventures as Pippa like to call them, but this time he was well, lost. He had made sure keep track of what direction he had been walking but somehow he had found himself in an unfamiliar part of the forest. _It's cold. _He thought. _Maybe if I climb a tree I can see the village. _Pulling his tunic closer to his chest he looked for a tall tree to climb.

Slowly Jack inched up the trunk pulling on the branches to gain height. Finally he reached one that he could see well from he slowly stood. What he saw was breath taking. The village was perhaps a mile to the North. Its fires were small flickering pinpricks in the dark. Each was small and beautiful like hope in his gut. Making note of its direction he climbed down from the tree. The heel of his one of shoes had bust out during the walk. Sighing jack bent over to pull his shoes from his feet. It had began snowing again.

After an hour of walking Jack was tired. His feet were cold and his fingers and nose. His hair was full of powdery white snowflakes. Jack quietly pushed open the cabin's front door, hoping his parents were in bed. They weren't.

"Jack." His mother jumped to her feet and run to great him. "Where were you?" She pushed him into a chair by a fire.

"I just was out walking and I went farther that I thought I had." Jack mumbled to his feet, warming his hands by rubbing them together quickly.

"You worried you mother sick, don't do it again." His father said standing up and heading to his and his wife's room. Jack looked up in surprise he had expected more, yelling or a disappointed look at least. Instead it looked as though his father simply didn't care enough to give jack a reaction, or the energy to give one.

Jack and his mother sat in silence for half an hour as jack sat by the fire trying to get warm again.

"I told your sister you would take her skating tomorrow."

"Is the pond frozen?"

"Yes your father checked it this morning."

"Ok I will."

"Your father and I will meet you there around lunch." She said getting to her feet.

Jack sat there for a moment, and then walked to his room; there was something that was bothering him. He just had a bad feeling. Jack looked back at the dying fire, memorizing the room, just drinking it in, as if trying to memorize his home. Jack shook his head and closed the door behind him.

**AN: wow this was just going to be kind of a fluff but it became a little dark at the end. The next chapters will be crazy so be excited! Review and all that stuff. I hope you like my crappy writing!**

**Just so you know john is just too tired to be mad right now. He was really worried I may write about them waiting for jack to come home later. Tell me if you guys would like that if you're interested I will do it.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Warning: tears were shed in the writing of this chapter… no really, they were.**

"Ice skating Ice skating." Pippa jumped around Jack as he cleaned plates from the morning meal.

"Hold on I'm almost done." Jack laughed. The pond near the house had finally frozen, and Jack was to take Pippa out and teach her how to ice skate. Latter their parents said they would bring lunch and watch them skate for awhile. Jack putting the clay bowls back in the cupboard finished with his work. John watched his son's work from the corner of the room. John had decided to leave the forge closed for the day, only because Emily had asked for a family day with all of them.

Jack picked up his skates in one hand and his tunic in the other. As Pippa tugged him out the door, Jack heard his mother call "Be careful!" as she a merged from her bed room to see them off.

"We will." Jack laughed. Bouncing in excitement the two rushed down the forest trail. When the pond came into view Jack knelt and began to unlace his boots. They were an older pair of his, as he had worn out his newest pair last night. Pippa quickly kicked hers off and shoved her feet into the hard leather of the skates their father had made for her at the beginning of winter.

Pippa jumped up and skipped on them to the edge of the pond, trying to stay balanced on the thin metal blades. Jack finishing his laces pulled of his boots leaving him barefooted. Pippa tentatively placed on skate on the frozen surface. Smiling she rushed forward on the ice. Jack laughed at her excitement and reached down to pick up his skates. Listening to Pippa slip about the frozen surface Jack loosened the laces of his skates so he could slip his feet inside. It was the first time John had allowed Pippa to come ice skating with Jack. Jack thought his mother had something to do with his father's change in heart. He doubted the John would ever let Pippa do anything "dangerous" if his mother didn't put her foot down.

"Jack!"At the sound of his name he began looking up. Pippa's voice sounded odd to Jack's ears. There was no longer excitement in her words. Jack saw nothing wrong, Pippa had not even fallen. Jack narrowed his eyes searching for the cause of his sister's distress. He followed his sister's gaze and there beneath her shoes, he saw it lines fished out forming odd angles and spirals, cracks.

"Don't move!" Panic bubbled up in his stomach. With his skates still in hand he dashed to the pond shoeless. Carefully walking across the ice he neared his sister.

Setting down his skates Jack knelt in front of his sister merely feet away. "It's ok, it's ok, don't look down look at me." Jack tried to sound brave as though he knew it would be ok. Inside however his mind waged war on itself trying to remember what you were supposed to do on thin ice.

"Jack I'm scared." Pippa eyes were wild with terror

"I know. I know but you're going to be alright. You're not going to fall in." Jack's voice was close to breaking. Looking around for some way to get out of this mess he stuttered. "Aaah… were going to have a little fun instead," he improvised.

"No we're not!" Panic edged into her words now.

"Would I trick you?" _Please,_ Jack thought, _don't fall, don't fall_. _I will give anything just don't fall_.

"Yes you always play tricks!" Jack felt his heart breaking. _Not Pippa. Not Pippa_.

"Well aright, but not, not, not this time." Words wouldn't come out of his mouth right. _Why was this happening?_

"I promise." Jack held her gaze." I promise." Jack put every ounce of himself in those two words. "You're gonna be, you're gonna be fine. You have to believe in me." She was crying. _No don't_. He thought biting back tears of his own.

"You wanna play a game? We're gonna play hopscotch, like we play every day." There was a long staff like branch just to his right. He could use it to pull her to safety. _Just sound confident_, he told himself.

"It's as easy as one." Jack stepped towards the branch, ice cracking under his foot.

"Wahoo." Jake balanced on one foot pretending to have trouble keeping his balance. _Make her_ _laugh_.

"Two." Another hop.

"Three." He reached down for the branch. Once it was in his grasp he reached it out towards her. It wouldn't reach. _COME ON!_

"Alright now it's your turn."

"One, that's it that's it," Jack winced as ice cracked more under her feet. _Please._

"Two." _Closer but not enough_.

"Three." He lunged forward hooking the curve of the branch around her middle, and threw her from the cracking surface of the pond. The momentum pulled him forward. Jack struck his knees and plums against the hard ice surface, it stung. However jack didn't stop to care about the sharp pain he felt. Jack looked up eyes wide looking for his sister who was now on the edge of the pond once more. _Thank you_. He thought as she looked up at him from the spot she lay on far from the cracks that threatened her moments before. Laughter burst from his mouth. He did it she was ok. Jack forgetting where he was began to stand.

**AN: wow this was so hard to write there were a couple of times I had to take a break and do something happy. This will be a continued in the next chapter. I promise I am just mean not evil. Please tell me what you think. Well now I am off to work on homework.**

**Guest, Luna Frost: I have written something really interesting for him, so don't worry it caused me feels just writing it. And I feel evil just thinking it.**

**Guest, random fandom: there is no official name for Jack's sister, and I named Jacks mom Emily/Emma so that name would not work. Not only that but I really like the name Pippa and it is the one I have heard the most. I know it is not necessarily cannon but there is no cannon name so it is fair game.**

**Thank you for **_every_** review. They make my day and I wish I had time to name and think each of you personally. I will always answer questions though. **


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: This is a continuation of the last chapter.**

**Warning: contents could be disturbing.**

The crack was ear splitting.

"Jack!" Pippa was screaming, he had to get to her, but it was suddenly cold, and wet. Jack couldn't breathe. Where was he? It was dark. _ The water_, his mind went into panic mode. He needed to find the top of the pond, but he couldn't see it. Air, he needed air. His lungs were burning. Why was it so cold? He couldn't see. What way was up, down? Mud covered his mouth as he thrashed searching for the place he fell through. Jack screamed but only bubbles escaped his lips. Water, cold and murderous water poured into his lungs. Convulsing he retched water, only to suck it back down again as he tried to suck in air. His eyes were wide yet unseeing. Pippa, he had to get to her to make sure she was alright. She was crying and Jack could hear it. It was worse than the cold. Pippa sobs were all around him, vibrating the very water that held him its captive. He found the ice, but he was too weak to break it. Jack wanted his mother, and her arms to hold him up. He wanted her to sing around the fire. He wanted Pippa. He wanted Pippa to smile and laugh at him and his jokes. But mostly Jack wanted his father. His father before times became hard, and he was stressed. Jack wanted the father that laughed and chased him around the room, laughing. Pounding his suffocating blanket, his vision blurred. Black there was only darkness and Jack was alone and scared.

* * *

Pippa screamed and screamed, tears freezing as they fell from her face and hit the surface of the small pond. Pippa began to crawl forward on the ice but more cracks fished out under her touch. A howl escaped her throat as she was forced back to the ponds edge once more. Bubbles and waves broke the surface of the ice, leaking over the rim of the hole Jack had left at the center of the frozen pond. But then, just as quickly as it had swallowed Jack, the water stilled. "Jack?" It came out as a hoarse whisper. Pippa sat shaking on the ice. She didn't know what to do.

* * *

John and his wife walked around a bend in the trail, the pond coming into sights. Pippa sat kneeling near the edge of the frozen surface. John frowned he couldn't see Jack. _What on earth is that boy up to now? _He thought bitterly. Pippa was crying;_ that's odd Jack never leaves Pippa crying_. His wife saw it first, the hole in the ice.

"NO!" she screamed running to the pond. John still unsure of what was wrong dashed after his wife. As she stepped onto the ice he saw it. Reaching forward he grabbed her around the middle pulling her back. "JACK!" she pushed at her husband trying to free herself from his hold. Her son didn't answer. Jack they knew would never ignore his mother when she yelled for him like life itself depended on his answer.

He was gone.

* * *

Pippa refused to leave. Jack was coming back; it was a game he had promised it would be fun. Jack never lied about stuff like that. He had to come back. But a small voice in her head whispered he wouldn't. As her father dragged her and her mother home, the voice grew stronger.

* * *

John, when later remembering that day would only remember it in pieces. It had been fine that morning Jack had not upset him once that day, which was quite a feat as Jack normally lived to case as much mischief as humanly possible. After taking his family home to the cabin, he had gone through the village for help to search the pond for his son. It had not completely hit him Jack would be dead when they found him in the water's icy deeps. The village men spent the rest of the day breaking the ice and plunging it's depths to retrieve the Overland boy. They searched in vain. Jack was not found. This was something that would haunt John for the rest of his life. He had never been able to give his son a proper resting place. At first He wondered if Jack was really gone. If they could not find him, could he be really alive, and perhaps hurt in the woods unable to return home? Pippa however put such hopes to rest when she told them what happened.

"He pulled me off the cracks… but… fell on them when he did…and he…he" She wailed unable to finish. But she didn't have to for John to know. _He fell through_. John didn't know what to say. It was his fault. It was his entire fault. John had told Emma that he had check to see if the pound was safe for Jack and Pippa, but he had been tired and didn't want to walk all the way to the pond and back to the cabin. John had lied and said it was safe and it wasn't. John had let his being tired interfere with his job, as a father, a protector. And now his son was gone, he John was entirely to blame. _Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa_, was all John could think. It was a phrase drilled into him by his mother when he was young. She had made him say it over and over when he had been bad. _My fault my fault my own grievous fault_. Jack was named a hero in the town. Jack the boy that he had yelled at for always play games. Now John just wanted to hold him and tell him to never grow up and forget everything he said otherwise. To always be Jack. John never would.

* * *

Emily was lying on her son's bed sobbing silently into his pillow. It smelled like him, like soap and rain. She wanted to just hold him. The men had come back without her Jack. Pippa was standing at the door of the room but Emily didn't care. Her son was gone. He had been so small when he was born, so perfect. He was always hers, her gift from God. He had been a gift of laughter every day, a gift of happiness and hope. When she had him she had promised to never let anything hurt him, she had failed so completely.

"Mamma?" Pippa crawled onto the bed and lay next to her.

Emily wrapped her arms around her now only child. Pippa, Jack had saved her, given her life at the cost of his own. Her son, it hurt. Emily did not know how long she laid there on her son's bed with Pippa tucked under her chin. Just holding Pippa, Jack's final gift.

* * *

John found his wife in Jack's room. She was just lying, there no longer crying. Her eyes looked a head unseeing, deed. Pippa had long since left her mother to go to her room and sleep. "Emma?" she gave no response. "Emma please."

"He's gone John. He died to save his sister. Protecting her." She sat up on the bed, still not facing her husband. "And all you ever did was yell at him and make him feel like he couldn't please you. John I defended you. I told him that _we_ loved him. I stayed with him when he was sick or hurt. I worried. I did everything. But I wasn't there. I should have been there John. Why weren't we there?

She got up from the bed and turned to face him. She began hitting him in the chest over and over. "And why did you hate him? Why did you never say that you loved him? He never knew." The last sentence was a scream. John just held her against him as she yelled and cried and hit. He could not look his wife in the eye; she was staring at him, waiting for him to defend himself. But she was right. She was right to hate him, more than she knew. John however didn't think he could ever tell her that he had not actually checked the ice.

**AN: oh my. That was so hard to write don't hate me for being so evil. I will still be writing about Jack as a human but less often, maybe as memories or flash back type of things. **

**Guest, Justplanoldme: Is this what you were looking for. I had already written this when you made the request but if you were thinking something else I would love to hear it.**

**Ami683: I will be working on it. It may be later on but that is going on my to do list.**

**Thank you for all the reviews you guys are so sweet and amazing to me. I cannot thank you enough for all the support I have been getting from you!**


	11. Chapter 11

They say life flashes before your eyes. Well it doesn't. Jack simply saw nothing, however he heard everything, his mother's scream, his father pulling her away, Pippa's refusal to believe he wasn't going to pop out of the water laughing. Maybe Jack was already dead when these things happened but he heard them. He still felt scared and he still burned for air. Jack heard the villages breaking the ice in search of his body. Jack heard the ice refreeze around him. Jack heard the town sing at the pond's edge the sad songs that you only sing when someone has died. Jack heard everything. That was when Jack heard the moon and it was when he forgot everything. _Jack Frost _whispered in his ear. It was cold and it was dark and Jack was still scared, but he saw the moon that whispered his name, and he wasn't so scared anymore.

* * *

Floating up from the bottom Jack's eyes opened and though he didn't know it they were no longer fall brown but a violent combination of blues that seemed to move. His hair had likewise changed from its original color to a snowy white. The moon was the first thing Jack saw. The face to the voice that pulled him from the dark and pulled him from the icy deeps was warm. Its glow radiated down on the frightened boy below.

* * *

As the ice surface broke to release the frozen boy below, Jack flowed into the air. Jack gulped down oxygen, like a starved lion tears into a meal. Jack's bare feet lowered and slipped about the icy surface of the pond. As he walked forward his foot brushed a convoluted branch shaped like a shepherd's staff. Frost spread out at his touch. Jack slowly picked it up. It immediately froze. Jack dropped one end in surprise. Ice thickened at its touch as it hit the frozen pond. His eyes flashing in relish he began taping the staff against trees. Realizing that it froze all it came into contact with, Jack began dancing about the pond, skating on its smooth and slick surface. Jack jumped in delight but didn't come back to the ground.

_I_ _can fly?_ He thought as he seemed to hover in midair_. I can fly! _Jack soon found himself perched on a tall tree. He could see fires in the distance. Though Jack didn't know how he knew fire meant people. Jack took of the wind guiding him to the village that had once been his home.

**AN: Hey I am sorry it is so short today has been crazy, so much homework and then speech practice. But I got this bit written so I hope you like it. Thanks for all the reviews.**


	12. Chapter 12

Jack clumsily flew, well really he shot into the air then dropped back to the ground; until he reached the edge of the village that Jack had thought to be lights. Dropping to the hard packed dirt ground Jack laughed, just to bounce back up.  
"Did you see that?" Jack ran to a woman near him. She just kept walking. Jack however not deterred just bounced about the town square smiling. He could fly, and for the moment the joy of the discovery left Jack giddy, with excitement. One grumpy old lady could not upset him. This town was small and happy looking, Jack liked it. Where it was Jack however had no clue. Spinning around Jack saw a small boy playing, running his way.

"Can you tell me where I am?" Jack said kneeling to be at the boy's level. The boy didn't stop. Jack winced as he braced for impact. What happened however was much worse. Worse than a few bruises. Jack felt his body ripped apart it compared to as humans would latter call it being vaporized. Jack felt the boy cut into him like a burning blade. His whole body felt twisted and contorted in that split second.

Jack jumped to his feet gasping in pain. _What? _Jack backed away, only to feel it again. Jack began panicking. He turned trying just to get away. He was shattered again. It felt like dying.

_They walked through me. What are they? _Jack fearfully backed away from the town of nonpeople. Clutching his chest, Jack didn't feel like flying anymore.

Not paying attention to where his feet cared him, Jack soon found he was at the pond. _What were they?_ He thought. Jack slowly realized they had not walked through each other; they even looked all the same. All brown hair and brown eyes, Jack was the one that looked wrong. The ice on the pond was a perfect mirror. He was white and blue. He was cold. He was the one that was not a real person. _No! _He refused to believe that, he felt real. But if he wasn't like them what was he? "What am I?" Jack said to no one. "What Am I?" he turned to look at the moon. The moon would know.

Jack this time heard nothing.

Gold lines shot across the sky. Jack jumped out of his reverie. It was like shooting stars but they were flying over the village. Bursting from each line were wondrous things, horses, and dances, and many beautiful things. Jack lay down watching them fly through the sky, and fell asleep to the golden show.

* * *

As weeks passed Jack sat and watched the village trying to understand. He learned a great deal. That this was a colony could Burgees. That children, for that was what the young ones were called, went to school. That there was coins called money that people need to buy food and all sorts of other stuff. Jack also learned that no one saw or heard him. No matter how loud he screamed or how much ice he covered the town in, no one acknowledged him. After experiencing being walked through several more time, jack was careful to avoid being close to the others.

Not only did Jack spend time studying the town's people, but he also worked on flying. Jack was clumsy still but he was able to stay up in the air without dropping down at all.

There was also a girl, young. She came to the pond every day. She would just sit there at the pond's edge and cry. Jack tried to comfort her but she never saw him skate on the ice doing flips or heard his comforting words. She never said anything, but after a while she would get up and walk back to the town.

* * *

Pippa felt sick everyday she would wake up sad, lay in bed and try and remember why. But when she did, she would just want to go back to sleep. Pippa wanted to dream of Jack. She wanted to dream that he was just in the next room ready to tell her that the thunder was really God bowling with the angles. Pippa wanted to argue and say that God wouldn't gamble like the sailors that came to port with their pins and balls. However Pippa would get up and eat breakfast. Then she would go to school. The other children had stopped talking to her. Pippa didn't really notice.

Her mother and father were acting strange they didn't talk much anymore. Her mum mostly locked herself in Jack's room. When she did that Pippa would go down to the pond. She wanted to talk to him to say something. Maybe that she was sorry. Sorry for making him take her to the pond. Sorry that she didn't look at the color of the ice. Sorry that she didn't just fall though and let him live. When she would come home her mother would brush her hair and sing a French song that jack loved. Then she would kiss Pippa on the forehead and send her to bed.

Her father on the other hand came home earlier from work; he would ask Pippa about her school work. Then tell her to go out and play. He tried to make her laugh. Pippa didn't want to laugh she wanted to cry. But she had no more tears.

Sitting at the pond this time she did not cry. She had decided to not cry anymore. Jack had hated crying. It was then that she heard it. A laugh. It was so familiar in that moment she smiled at the frozen ground. He was here, Jack was here. And she could hear him.

* * *

One day the girl came this time however she wasn't crying. Jack couldn't help it he was glad. Glad she was no longer sad. He didn't know what it was but Jack hated to see her cry. So jack laughed, he knew her smile was not because of him and his tricks or jokes, but he felt happy. He wasn't sure but he though just for a second she heard.

**AN: well here it is sorry it is so late. I don't think i will be able to post tomorrow, so sorry. I really strugled getting this out, so please any ideas would be welcome. I really wanted to do something with sandy so i put a bit in to lead up to him later. so look for that! review and all that.**


	13. Chapter 13

Jack loved to follow the golden beams as they flew across the night sky. He didn't know what did it but he felt a sudden urge to touch the flashing rivers in the air. When he did the beam split as his hand reached into it. _Sand, its sand._ Just as this thought passed through Jacks head two leaping dolphins dove from where his fingers brushed the surface. The dolphins circled him twice then disintegrated into small particles.

Jack flipped in mid-air whopping in glee at the thought of the magic dust. Deciding to follow the sand to its destination, Jack found himself in the village. To his dismay he saw that the sand streams lead to children sleeping. Each had their own imagines dancing around their dozing heads.

Leaning against the windowsill he watched two sand children chasing each other around a campfire, one with a pair of deer antlers held to their head. Jack was watching the lake girl as she slept. Unsure why Jack was drawn to this small girl, he felt the need to watch over her. She was always so sad. Jack was glad that her dreams were at least something happy and that she was now smiling in her sleep.

Jack was too busy watching this small girl to notice the cloud of sand above the small village or the small sleepy man looking at the sad teenage snowy boy. Sandman didn't know this boy. He had first noticed him when he felt his dream sand disrupted. However sandy didn't mind that the boy had touched the sand and kept it from its quick flow. There was something odd about him, he wasn't human, sandy realized.

The boy was a sprit what kind time would only tell. Sighing Sandy guided his cloud away from the town to give dreams to the rest of the world still pondering the strange white haired boy that was still now sitting on a windowsill watching over a brown haired beauty sleeping as if protecting her from the world.

**AN: hey so sorry it has been so long since I posted. I tore a hole in my cornea and so I have been blind in one eye all week end and it had been really painful to just write this so it may be a while for me to post again. So again sorry. Commit and all that, thanks.**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: After making you wait so long I feel bad that this chapter is not the greatest.**

* * *

_Jack was sitting on the floor looking up at his mother. She was smiling at him holding a worn book in her hand. She was reading a story to him. Jack was happy and smiling back. The story was about a hero saving a princess. Jack was laughing. The door opened behind jack and he lost focus on the book. His father had walked into the room. John was holding fire wood in his muscle corded arms. John placed the wood in the hearth and worked on kindling a flame. Soon there was a fire warming Jack's back. The warmth felt good against the cold of the night. His mother had put the book away and was now singing. Jack's father soon joined in singing a slow lullaby to the boy lying on a blanket on a wooden floor._

" _Dodo, l'enfant do,L'enfant dormira bien vite Dodo, l'enfant doL'enfant dormira bientôt. Une poule blanche Est là dans la grange. Qui va faire un petit coco Pour l'enfant qui va fair' dodo. Dodo, l'enfant do, L'enfant dormira bien vite Dodo, l'enfant do L'enfant dormira bientôt. Tout le monde est sage Dans le voisinage Il est l'heure d'aller dormer Le sommeil va bientôt venir__." _

Bang!

A gun rang in the distance.

Jack woke with a jolt. He sat up from his snow bed looking around. The hint of a fire's warmth still on his back, Jack frowned he could not recall the dream he had just had. He knew it had been a happy one, but he could not remember the details. The gun sounded again. Jack slowly wiped sleep from his eyes and moved to his feet.

The first time Jack had heard a gun he had jumped out of his skin. Now it was a familiar instrument that was part of the forests song. Jack was still not sure how he felt about them, they seemed dangerous, but the men in the village seemed to enjoy their use. Jack of course had never eaten meat so he could not understand the allure to hunt and eat the animals that littered the forest.

Jack felt a playful tug on his tunic. Jack quickly fell into the wind letting it take him as it pleased. He soon found himself in the village. Though he was careful to not near anyone lest they walk through him, he still got to enjoy the hustle bustle of the little town's people going about their business. Women where trading cloth and thread while men looked at meats and tools.

A distant ringing called Jack from his perch on a building's roof. Gliding down from the apex, still not with much grace, Jack followed the sound. He approached a small building with smock rising from a chimney. Poking his head inside Jack found a man bent over his work hammering away at a piece of metal. Jack carefully examined the man's work, it was good. Everything was beautifully crafted. Everything from the horseshoes to farm tools to decoratively intertwined candle holders. The man put down his hammer finally and began to clean up his latest work. As he wiped down the surfaces of his forge he began humming a slow tune. Jack who had begun to leave stopped in his tracks, and just stood listening to the half remembered song from a forgotten memory so long ago.

* * *

**AN: hey sorry it has been so long since I updated. My eye is so much better. So I am back to hopefully posting once a day! To answer questions…**

**Skyhighfan: wow that sounds crazy mine is not near as bad.**

**Fluddershy: I had a defective contact lens and when I took it out it stuck to my eye tearing a hole.**

**Coolgal342: thank you for the prayers I really appreciate them.**


	15. Chapter 15

Children where running about the town in search of what appeared to be rainbow eggs. This Jack found quite amusing as he thought it seemed a tad ridicules. Jack however was not one to pass up on any game, whether the children could see him or not he too ran about gathering the paint assorted eggs. Diving around bushes and climbing trees, it felt like cheating to fly, Jack ran around picking up the colored shells. Jack figured he had collected the largest amount by the time the children gathered at the town's center to count how many they had. The village was in a frenzy trying to determine which child had the most eggs. There would be a prize for the one that did. Jack to his delight had more than the boy that was crowned the winner. He was named Andrew, and Jack did not like the look of him at all. He always seemed to be mean to the younger children.

Jack saw his girl sitting of to the side of the crowd. This made Jack frown. Getting down from his perch on top of a small cottage's roof, he approached the brown haired girl that he was so fond of. She was glaring at Andrew from where he stood flaunting his prize, a cooper coin. He looked down at her own pile of eggs it was small with only a handful of the colored food. Jack pulled out his carefully tracked down assortment and placed them at the girl's feet, among her own. Now she had the most. Jack sat down to wait and watch the girls reaction when she found she had over twice as much eggs as she had before, But Jack was distracted from staying to watch the look on her face when she went to pick up her eggs and head home, by a man sized bunny.

The bunny was staring at Jack stomping his foot.

Jack did a double take.

_He was staring at Jack. _

He saw him. Jack forgot momentarily about his sad girl. He was so excited that someone was looking at him, well even if it was a rabbit man. Jack was more than elated.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jack stopped just short of the bunny's reach. What was he talking about? Jack hadn't done anything. "How dare you steal the children's eggs. " He said as Jack stared at him shocked.

"I wasn't… I didn't…" Jack didn't know what to say. He was seeing, talking to someone who could see him, and the bunny-man was just yelling at him. Jack bristled.

"I wasn't stealing any eggs. I was just playing along."

"Well, don't do it again got it." And with that the bunny tapped the ground with his foot. A hole appeared in the Earth's surface.

"Wait! What is your name?"

"Bunnymund." He replied as he fell through the hole.

"I am Jack Frost." Jack whispered to the ground that closed over the hole.

* * *

Pippa tore her eyes away from Andrew holding his coin up to the other children. Sighing she bent down to pick up the few eggs she had collected. When she did she found a large pile of eggs. More than she had ever collected. "Jack?" she whispered. Pippa new only her brother would have been able to find that many eggs. Even when he was dead he was still looking out for her. It felt like he always would.

* * *

Jack all games forgotten walked back to his lake, questions racing through his mind. Who was this Bunnymund? Why could he see Jack? Looking up at the rising moon Jack waited for his answers. The moon was silent.

* * *

**AN: sorry I didn't post yesterday. I had a test today I was studing for. But here it is Review and all that please. I love reading them. If you have any ideas that you would like to see me write, I would love to hear them.**


	16. Chapter 16

"What do you think of my coin Pips?" Andrew asked in a husky voice.

"I think you only have it because Jack didn't kick your butt like always."

"Yeah to bad he kicked the bucket?" he replied holding his leg out to trip her. Pippa stopped in her tracks just in front of his shoe.

"Don't … You… Ever." She growled, her hands balled at her side.

"How's the lake? Did your dad ever find his body?" Andrew smirked.

Pippa lunged forward tackling him on to the dirt. Her fists flew hitting him over and over. Soon blood poured from his nose, and was splashed crossed her fists.

"Pippa! No!" Soon two strong hands were pulling her off the blood covered mess of a boy. Tears were streaming down her face. She hadn't even noticed until she was pulled into her father's arms. "What on Earth has gotten into you?"

Andrew got to his feet. His eyes were staring daggers at the small girl. "Control your child!" He spat.

"He insulted Jack." Pippa sobbed into her father's shirt. She felt him stiffen beneath her touch.

Without a word he pulled Pippa back to the cabin they lived in, shaking with anger.

* * *

Jack was completely angry at the dumb bunny man. What had he done to deserve that? Nothing. He just wanted to play with the kids and have fun, even if they couldn't see him. But no, he wasn't even allowed to do that. He kicked a rock into the pond that had given him life. He leaped into a tree and watched the rock sink into the dark depths below. Jack felt a tug on his tunic. The wind. It pulled at him again, and blew the tears falling from his eyes off his cheeks. Laughing Jack leaned back, into a free fall from the tree branch he was standing on. The wind was his dearest friend, and was determined to cheer him up. He fell quickly the air rushing past him, but she caught him. She always did. Carrying him up into the air, he twirled like an acrobat letting her pull him from the pond he called home. She was pulling him out to sea, only to push him back inland again. Once and awhile she would take him across the whole of America. She was his always dependable friend. Jack didn't need soon stupid rabbit anyway, not as long as he had her.

* * *

"She let him have it. The idiot boy was covered in blood by the time I pulled her off of him." John proudly told his wife.

Pippa had her ear pressed to her keyhole and was eavesdropping on the whole affair.

"Did she say what he had said?"

"Just that he insulted Jack. He was lucky she was the one who hit him." John's face darkened.

"John." Emily whispered "He's just a boy. He didn't know what…"

"What he was saying? Oh yes he did! Don't make excesses for him. He has always been an argent little brat." John stood and walked to the window. "Jack was right about him, you know? One time he told me that Andrew was cruel to all the children. I just laughed and said that he should not say such things. But he was right. Jack was always right." The last words came out as a whisper, barely heard above the crackling fire.

Pippa pulled her ear away and creped over to her bed. Curling up under her covers she began to sing the lullaby that Jack had sung to her on a night that seemed so long ago when her biggest worry was a thunderstorm.

* * *

Jack found himself in the mountains. At least that is what the wind called them. He soon was curled up in a soft snow bank at the opening of a cave. The golden sand was soon flying all over the night sky, swirling in the wind. Jack found himself humming softly as he watched the wind play with the gleaming grains. He fell asleep to the wind sing and dancing, still with him, singing in his ear the promise that she would never leave him.

* * *

**AN: Hey sorry it is late, I have been crazy busy. :P ok answer time!**

**H2O Alchemist: I don't speak French so I'm sorry if it is wrong, I just looked up a song on Google. **

**Romirola: Hope this was what you were thinking. I am going to try to do more with bunny soon. **

**Guest: Ideas are never lame! Think you for them.**

**Thank you to all who have reviewed, followed and favorited the story, it means a lot. I hope to update again soon! **


	17. Chapter 17

She was alone deep in the Earths depths. Long ago she had been trapped in her own hell. Where she could not fly or dance with trees and the sea. She was left in a small pit where there was no light. There was no way to leave. She was forever sealed in. Her eyes had turned gray from the lack of light, and she no longer saw. But the Man in the Moon had taken pity on her, years after her imprisonment, he let her reach out in to the land and travel the world. Even in her sleep she still roamed. Pulling men across the oceans, cooling maids on hot summer days, and chasing leaves, she roamed.

Her body was but an empty shell that she lived in, her spirit was free. Years in the dark had left her sad. She wanted to dance and play along the mountains. She wanted to fly with eagles and bluebirds. The Man in the Moon had left her alone for far too long. And though she was grateful to the Man in the Moon for the little freedom she had, she was bitter. He didn't try to save her from her cage. He didn't tell anyone where she was. He was completely satisfied to leave her alone. To not let her be her full and complete self.

She was sleeping when she felt it. There was a tug on her whole being. It felt like she was being drawn to a place, a single place. She sat up quickly in her bed, well it was really just a pile of blankets on the hard cave floor. _What on Earth? _She wanted to go and focus on this one place, and that had never happened. She was free, well as free as she could be trapped in this darkness. But her spirit was free to roam and explore the world. It was her trade off. Then she heard him.

"_Jack Frost."_ The voice of the one she owed everything. The Man in the Moon. So she went, her spirit rushed to the place that called to her like nothing had ever before. There she found a boy cold and alone crying by a pond. Asking why they couldn't hear or see him. Why they walked through him.

"What am I?" He sobbed into his arms. Her heart broke. She would not let him be as lonely as she was. No he would be loved and held when she cried. She was content that he would always have her. Even if he could never help her escape her prison she would help him escape his. Gathering him up in her arms she pulled him to his feet. _What?_ He was started by the sudden arms that seemed to lift him into the air. This flying wasn't awkward as his first flight. It was natural and easy as breathing. She lifted him into the night sky and took him dancing among the dream dust that sandy sent on her wings. Soon however he was tired. So she tucked him in to a snow bank like a mother her new born child into a new crib. She rocked him to sleep, pulling the tree back and forth, and sang in his ear.

"You are safe, I am here. I am the wind."

**AN: ok so I just love the idea that the wind is a person. So here she is. I hope you love her as much as I do. I trapped her in a pit because I felt that if she could she would have been with Jack in person. So I made it impossible for her to do that. I know I'm mean. Review and all that!**


	18. Chapter 18

"Jack, can I come please?" Pippa begged pulling on her brother's tunic.

"Pips, no it is time for you to go home. Dad doesn't like you staying out after dark." Jack pushed his sister towards the small cabin nestled between two trees. "I'm just going for a walk. I will be back soon, now inside little lady." With that Pippa watched her brother head out on one of his adventures. Turning slowly Pippa walked back to her home, already anticipating stories of Jacks newest wild adventure.

* * *

Pippa had been told to go to bed an hour ago but her father's voice woke her. "Why can't that boy just listen for once in his life? Tell him to come home before supper, and he still hasn't come back, from God know where." John voice was full of anger, and Pippa did not like it one bit.

"He probably lost track of time." Her mother said trying to convince herself more than her husband and not succeeding.

"I'm sick of it. I'm done. He can die of cold for all I care."

"John!" Pippa heard a chair creak as if her mother had stood up to say this. "Don't say that! Ever! Jack is not some stranger you can cast off. He is your son your flesh and blood. Don't you dare talk that way about him? I am sick of you tearing him down with your words, when he only wants to please you and help with Pippa!" she stopped suddenly as if for breathe. Wood creaked as she sat down in one of the old chairs that surrounded the table.

"Emma…" He trailed off at the end of her name.

"Just go." Emily said through her hands. "Just go… John, I don't want to talk to you right now."

Pippa listened to her father walk past her door and into his own room the door closing quietly behind him. Pippa backed away from the key hole she had been listening through. Her face was wet. She brushed her fingers over her face pulling way her hand wet. Pippa slowly without thinking crawled under her coverlet and curled up in a ball. She began singing under her breath "Oh Sandman give me a dream… make it a good dream where we're always happy."

Little did she know Sandman was listening. Pippa's eyes drifted closed as Jack opened the front door. John walked out of his and his wife's bedroom to address his son.

**AN: Hey guys sorry it's been a long time. I just haven't been really motivated and I am not sure what to write about with this story anymore. I am thinking of jumping to around the movie time. If that sounds like something you would like to read say and I will work on doing that. The song if any of you are familiar with Mr. Sandman, yes that is where I got the idea. And I know it's like 200 years early I just thought it would be fun. If you haven't ever heard the song, look it up. Review and all that please I love to read them!**


	19. Chapter 19

Jack looked at the slice of bread on the plate in front of him with disgust. His stomach was begging for more than one small sliver of the grainy sliver in front of him. Jack looked up at his mother as she sat to nibble on her small slice. So this was it. Jack would not complain he refused to. Pippa had already devoured her portion and was now sitting solemnly looking at her now empty plate. "Momma? Is there more?" she said looking out from under her bangs. She had began to pick up the crumbs on the plate and put them in her mouth.

"Honey, I'm sorry but there…" Jack cut her off.

"Yes." Jack grabbed his portion of bread off his plate quickly and hiding it from his sister to see, got up from the table and walked to the cupboard. Making it look as though he was pulling his uneaten slice from within the cupboard's depths, Jack spun around holding it out to his sister.

Jack's mother glared. Jack needed to eat. Brushing off his mother's gaze he placed the bit on Pippa's plate and smiled. Pippa picked up the bread in delight and was soon eating Jacks dinner happily, completely unaware of the silent argument going on between her mother and brother.

After Pippa was finished Emily dismissed her from the house to go and play. Jack tried to get up from the table without his mother noticing, unsuccessfully.

"Jackson Overland. I know that you were trying to help me, but it won't help if you get sick from not eating." She said rounding on him from the doorway.

Jack felt no remorse for giving Pippa his bit of dinner, and refused to apologize for doing so. He simply looked at his mother and shrugged.

Sighing Emily Overland waved her son out the door after his sister. _We need more food. _But she refused to complain to John. He worked so hard as it was. This winter was simply harder than past ones. Not for the first time she wondered if it would have been better to have stayed in England with her parents. She could have convinced John to work at the port. But he had had such dreams of wild land and adventure. He had been much of what Jack was now. John had been easy coming with laughs and jokes. Emily missed that, but understood that the colonies were a hard place that one had to adapt to or die. So they had. John had become a smith, and she had cleaned and sowed, for men whose wives had died on the boat over or had come unmarried to the land.

Jack walked with his sister into the town center. "Jack do you think there will be more food tomorrow?"

Jack looked into his sisters dark brown eyes and lied. "Of course Pips." Jack smiled a false smile and pushed his younger sister to children her age playing hopscotch in the street. Leaving her there he went to the different shops in the small town asking if they need any work done such as sweeping and the like. Two he walked into gave him two pence for odd jobs. Jack looked at the pitiful earnings. Talking it to the bakery he bought a loaf and a small wedge of cheese. Smiling at his work he returned home and placed the cheese in one of the holes his father had dug over the years to store food that was better to keep colder then the cupboard. His mother walked in as he was putting the bread in the cupboard.

"Jack, where on Earth did you get that bread?"

"The store Mum." Jack teased as he closed the door.

"Well where did you get the money for it." She asked exasperated.

"Worked for it." Jack said as he walked out the door and into the dusk cold air to go play a game with his sister before his father would call them home.

**AN: so sorry I just don't have any ideas. I am working on Jack meeting the others but it is really slow going. Well thank you for all being so wonderful with reviews and everything. I hope you like this chapter it took way too long to write. Sorry if there are any errors I didn't edit as much as I normally do. Review and all that please.**


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